International Road Transport Action Network week launched

Accra, Oct 10, GNA - A study by the National Road Safety Commission (NRSC) has revealed that about 90 per cent of road traffic accidents are due to human errors. The study further listed speeding, indiscipline, fatigue, over-loading, wrong overtaking and defective vehicles as other major cases of road traffic accidents, which was currently on the increase in the country.

Mr K. Adom-Boateng, Deputy-Director, in-Charge of Finance and Administration, NRSC, at the launch of the International Road Transport Action Network Week on Monday said about 70 per cent of accidents occurred on flat and straight roads instead of on bad roads. The weeklong campaign, under the themes: "Fatigue Kills"; "Correcting The Indiscipline On Our Roads", "Eradicating The Carnage On Our Roads", "Organising Globally-Building Union Power," is to sensitise employers and workers in the transport industry for the efficient and effective delivery of their operations.

Mr Adom-Boateng said it was estimated that an average of six persons were killed daily through motor accidents resulting from indiscipline and recklessness on the part of drivers. "Out of all these accidents, pedestrian fatalities account for 43 per cent and 25 percent of the pedestrians, who die are children below the ages of 16," he said. He said the trend of road traffic accidents had been increasing steadily in the last three years, with 1,702 road fatalities last year. Mr Adom-Boateng indicated that the Ashanti Region recorded about of 21 per cent of road fatalities as against 18.4 per cent in the Eastern Region, 13.4 per cent in the Greater Accra and 1.3 per cent in the Upper West Region.

The NRSC was collaborating with the Motor Transport and Traffic Unit, Department of Urban Roads, the Ghana Highway Authority, the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) and other affiliate bodies to ensure the reduction in road accidents.

Dr Richard Anane, Minister of Roads, said effort to formulate a National Transport Policy was on course and urged all drivers and unions to collaborate with the consultants when invited. He said road transportation accounted for 97 per cent and 94 per cent of national passenger and freight traffic, respectively, and the massive and unprecedented road reconstruction and rehabilitation works on the entire national road network over the past four years was ample testimony of the Government's commitment to make road transportation safe, reliable and efficient. He called on all stakeholders in the transport industry to ensure the strict enforcement of the provisions of the Road Traffic Act and other relevant regulations and to further intensify their road safety programmes.

The Minister advised long distant drivers to rest after every four hours of driving. Dr Anane said the Government was pursuing a fleet-renewal programme for the private sector's high-occupancy inter-city transport services with the aim of making Ghana the transportation hub of the West-African Sub-Region. "These actions are geared towards ridding our roads of derelict vehicles and thereby reduce accidents," he said.